Chapter 29:Heart break

Three days had passed since the Wind Eye Secret Realm forcibly closed.

Jinghong Peak was shrouded in a heavy, oppressive atmosphere.

Shu Yue stood in the hall, her face dark as still water.

Over the past three days, she had exhausted every authority and favor at her disposal, even personally pleading with Elder Qingxu, who guarded the sect’s treasure, the “Heaven-Viewing Mirror,” to trace the fleeting sword intent and wind origin energy from the realm’s closure.

But all efforts sank without a trace.

A living person—a Qi Refining disciple—had vanished as if evaporated, neither seen alive nor found dead.

A sense of powerlessness gnawed at her.

For the first time, she felt profound regret for her decisions.

If she hadn’t pushed Qing Wan into the trial, if she hadn’t given her that talisman yet failed to protect her…

“Master.” Chu Yi’s voice came from outside the hall, tinged with hesitation. “Your disciple comes to report on the trial’s details.”

Shu Yue suppressed her emotions, her voice cold. “Enter.”

Chu Yi stepped in, bowing respectfully before recounting his experiences in the secret realm, emphasizing the terrifying collapse of the storm core and… Qing Wan’s resolute plunge into the vortex.

“This disciple was incompetent, unable to protect Junior Sister Qing Wan. Please punish me, Master,” Chu Yi said, kneeling on one knee, his voice heavy with grief.

Though he resented Qing Wan’s potential to divert his Master’s attention, their bond as fellow disciples and the shock of her final act made his plea sincere.

Listening to his account, Shu Yue’s mind conjured the image of that frail figure diving fearlessly into the destructive storm, her heart clenching painfully.

She waved a hand, her voice hoarse. “It’s not your fault. Leave.”

Chu Yi glanced at his Master with concern, sensing a deeper stillness in her than usual.

Not daring to press, he retreated.

As Chu Yi left, a faint, elegant fragrance wafted in, and Wan Qing appeared at the hall’s entrance.

Today, she wore a lotus-pink gown, her skin jade-like, her eyes gentle, holding a white jade bowl.

“Elder,” her voice soft and perfectly concerned, “I heard you’ve been exhausting yourself over the secret realm’s affairs. Wan Qing made ‘Ice Heart Jade Lotus Soup,’ perfect for calming the mind. Please try it.”

She approached gracefully, placing the bowl on the table beside Shu Yue, her movements natural and refined.

Instead of keeping her usual distance, she leaned slightly closer, looking at Shu Yue with worry in her eyes. “Elder, the fatigue between your brows is heavy. Are you still troubled by that missing junior sister?”

Her proximity brought a warm, comforting aura, contrasting with Shu Yue’s icy demeanor.

Her voice was gentle, carrying a soothing charm.

Shu Yue, her mind unsettled, didn’t immediately reject this closeness or concern.

Rubbing her brow, she showed rare exhaustion, her voice low. “…Just a trivial matter.”

Wan Qing sighed softly, her tone gentler still. “I’ve heard about that junior sister. For a Qi Refining cultivator to dare enter the storm core—such resolve and courage are astonishing… and lamentable. Elder, your care for talent makes your sorrow understandable.”

“But,” she continued softly, “the dead are gone, and the living must move on. As the master of Jinghong Peak and a pillar of the sect, your well-being is paramount. To harm your dao foundation with excessive grief would betray the sect’s expectations and surely not be what that junior sister would want, would it?”

As she spoke, she naturally extended her slender hand, her fingertips gathering a gentle, pure stream of Miaoyin Pavilion’s spiritual energy, lightly pressing against Shu Yue’s temples. “If Elder doesn’t mind, Wan Qing knows a calming technique that might ease your fatigue.”

The warm, soothing energy carried an ethereal tranquility, her touch perfectly measured.

Shu Yue’s body stiffened, instinctively wanting to pull away, but the gentle energy did ease her tense, agitated divine sense.

“…Fine.”

She didn’t move, closing her eyes, letting the soothing energy calm her nerves.

The faint fragrance of Wan Qing and the sweet scent of the jade lotus soup lingered.

Wan Qing, watching Shu Yue’s brows relax slightly and her pale face, curved her lips in a faint smile.

She said no more, focusing on gently easing Shu Yue’s fatigue.

Her demeanor was intimate yet respectful.

The scene—an immortal maiden soothing an elder’s brow, the elder resting calmly—was warm and beautiful.

But at that moment—

At the edge of Jinghong Peak’s protective barrier, space faintly rippled, and a bloodied, unrecognizable figure crashed heavily into the grass, letting out a muffled thud.

It was Qing Wan!

The minor teleportation talisman’s energy was bizarre, not sending her within a hundred miles as expected but, disrupted by the realm’s collapse, performing an unstable, long-distance random teleportation!

Her survival through the spatial chaos was solely due to the Wind Spirit Origin Core’s energy protecting her heart meridian.

But now, she was at her limit.

The violent teleportation and severe injuries plunged her into a deep coma, her breath as faint as a dying candle.

Only the core within her stubbornly released energy, repairing her broken body and pushing her cultivation toward the Foundation Building barrier!

She landed in a spot with a distant view of Jinghong Hall.

In the final moment before losing consciousness, her blurred vision pierced through sparse trees, catching… a piercing scene in the Bamboo-Listening Pavilion.

She saw the lofty Elder Luyue, seated with eyes closed.

And the gentle, water-like Fairy Wan Qing, leaning close, her fingers… intimately touching her brow?

An atmosphere of serene closeness flowed between them, one Qing Wan had never witnessed.

It was like a perfect painting—and she, a superfluous, filthy stain, utterly excluded.

So… while she was missing, her fate unknown… the Elder was…

A heart-wrenching pain gripped her, a hundred times worse than any injury in the secret realm!

All her persistence, struggles, and the hope that sustained her through despair collapsed in an instant!

A gush of blood surged from her mouth, but she couldn’t make a sound.

Her vision sank into darkness.

Her last shred of consciousness held only that warm, excluding scene and boundless cold.

In Jinghong Hall, Shu Yue, soothed by Wan Qing, felt her heart suddenly constrict!

An intense unease surged, making her snap her eyes open and push Wan Qing’s hand away!

“Elder?” Wan Qing, startled by the sudden move, looked at her in confusion.

Shu Yue stood abruptly, her divine sense flooding out like a tide, sweeping across Jinghong Peak!

Her face was grim.

“That feeling… what was it?”

But her divine sense found nothing amiss—disciples training, spiritual herbs growing, breezes rustling bamboo…

Wan Qing, seeing Shu Yue’s distress, her eyes flickering before softening with concern. “Elder, what’s wrong? Are you unwell?”

Shu Yue’s chest heaved, the inexplicable panic slowly subsiding. Looking at Wan Qing’s worried gaze, she shook her head. “…Nothing.”

Perhaps just a delusion.

She sat back down, but her heart couldn’t settle.

The jade lotus soup’s sweet aroma and Wan Qing’s gentleness remained, but an inexplicable irritation lingered.

Her gaze drifted involuntarily to the hall’s entrance, to the empty mountain path.

At that moment, in the grass at Jinghong Peak’s edge, in a corner she overlooked, the gravely injured Qing Wan lay tormented by raging spiritual energy and heart-shattering despair, teetering on the brink of death.

No one knew of her return.

No one knew the first sight she saw upon returning was enough to push her into an abyss.

Wan Qing followed Shu Yue’s gaze, seeing only empty forest.

Tactfully, she didn’t press, only picking up the cooling jade lotus soup, saying softly, “The soup’s getting cold, Elde

r. Have some—it’s good for you.”

Shu Yue absently hummed, taking the bowl.